The contributors to this volume negotiate the notion of a ‘classic’ in film and fiction, exploring the growing interface and the blurring of boundaries between literature and film. Taking the problematic term ‘classic’ as its focus, the contributors consider both canonical literary and film texts, questioning whether classic status in one domain transfers it to another.
Classics in Film and Fiction looks at a wide range of texts and their adaptations. Authors discussed are Shakespeare, Charlotte Brontë, Henry James, Franz Kafka, Thomas Mann, Virginia Woolf, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Arthur Miller, Truman Capote and Lewis Carroll. Book to film adaptations analysed include Jane Eyre, The Crucible, The Tempest and Alice in Wonderland. The collection also evaluates the term ‘classic’ in a wider context, including a comparison of Joyce’s Ulysses with Hitchcock’s Rear Window. Throughout, the contributors challenge the dichotomy between high culture and pop culture.